Photo: Guido Ten Brink/SB-Medien
It appears that with each passing week, another faux crossover comes forth with more rugged looks, more ground clearance, and front-wheel-drive just like the stock model. At Geneva, for example, Honda introduced the Jazz X-Road.
The European brother of the Fit in X-Road specification is gifted with black-painted plastic moldings around the wheel arches and side skirts. The front and rear underruns, by contrast, are finished in silver. Nothing special at all, isn’t it?
Prepare to get disappointed again, for the 16-inch alloy wheels are nothing to write home about. Hopping inside the X-Road isn’t all that different from the regular Jazz, the X-Road-branded floor mats being the only add-ons worthy of mention.
As if this wasn’t a half-baked effort, the engine lineup won’t get your pulse racing either. The 1.3-liter i-VTEC four-cylinder is the sole choice, tuned to develop 103 PS (102 horsepower) and 123 Nm (91 pound-feet). With peak torque available from 5,000 rpm, you’ll have to rev the hell out of the engine to pass at higher speeds.
In addition to the six-speed manual transmission that comes standard, Honda offers a CVT for those who couldn’t care less about shifting their own gears. Why didn’t the automaker offer the 1.5-liter i-VTEC as an option, well, nobody but Honda knows the answer to that.
Pricing has yet to be announced, but don’t expect anything too peppered from the X-Road. The 1.3-liter Jazz with stick shift, for reference, retails from 16,640 euros in Germany. The UK-spec model, on the other hand, will set you back 14,115 pounds sterling.
In addition to the X-Road, the Jazz received the so-called Chrome Pack at the Swiss show. As the name implies, it consists of front lower, tailgate, and window decorations, and that’s all there is to it. The highlight of the Honda stand, however, is the all-new CR-V in European specification, which ditches turbo diesel for hybrid power.
Prepare to get disappointed again, for the 16-inch alloy wheels are nothing to write home about. Hopping inside the X-Road isn’t all that different from the regular Jazz, the X-Road-branded floor mats being the only add-ons worthy of mention.
As if this wasn’t a half-baked effort, the engine lineup won’t get your pulse racing either. The 1.3-liter i-VTEC four-cylinder is the sole choice, tuned to develop 103 PS (102 horsepower) and 123 Nm (91 pound-feet). With peak torque available from 5,000 rpm, you’ll have to rev the hell out of the engine to pass at higher speeds.
In addition to the six-speed manual transmission that comes standard, Honda offers a CVT for those who couldn’t care less about shifting their own gears. Why didn’t the automaker offer the 1.5-liter i-VTEC as an option, well, nobody but Honda knows the answer to that.
Pricing has yet to be announced, but don’t expect anything too peppered from the X-Road. The 1.3-liter Jazz with stick shift, for reference, retails from 16,640 euros in Germany. The UK-spec model, on the other hand, will set you back 14,115 pounds sterling.
In addition to the X-Road, the Jazz received the so-called Chrome Pack at the Swiss show. As the name implies, it consists of front lower, tailgate, and window decorations, and that’s all there is to it. The highlight of the Honda stand, however, is the all-new CR-V in European specification, which ditches turbo diesel for hybrid power.
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